Vizefeldwebel Fritz Beckhardt (27 March 1889 – 13 January 1962) was a

German Jewish The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321 CE, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (c. 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish commu ...

fighter ace in World War I.Beckhardt (2014) The Nazis later expunged him from

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

history because his valorous war record of 17 aerial victories belied their assertions that Jews were inherently cowardly.''Das Flieger Albu

Retrieved 22 August 2009.''

Early life

Fritz Beckhardt was born in Wallertheim, Rheinhessen, Germany. His father was Abraham Beckhardt. Prior to World War I, he had worked in a grocery store, then in a menswear warehouse in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

.The Aerodrom

Retrieved 22 August 2009. As part of his apprenticeship in textiles, he worked in Bingen am Rhein, Bingen, Hadamar, and

. During this prewar period, he served in Infanterie-Regiment No. 143 from 1907 to 1909. By 1914, he was working in an uncle's clothing factory in

Marseilles Marseille (; ; see below) is a city in southern France, the prefecture of the department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the Provence region, it is located on the coast of the Mediterranean S ...

, France. He repatriated himself to Germany to once again serve in the infantry, until 1916. On 3 August 1914, Beckhardt volunteered to serve in Company 12 of Infanterie-Regiment Graf Bose (1. Thüringisches) Nr. 31. On 30 November, he transferred to Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 86. During his service with this regiment, he earned both a First and Second Class

Iron Cross The Iron Cross (, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, the German Empire (1871–1918), and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). The design, a black cross pattée with a white or silver outline, was derived from the in ...

Aerial Service

He then trained as a pilot at FEA 5 at Hannover in January, 1917. His first operational assignment, from 29 August to 14 November 1917, was with FA 3, which flew exceptionally long reconnaissance missions. He transferred to ''Schusta'' 11. He attended ''Jastaschule'' 1 to upgrade to fighter pilot status. He then went on to Jagdstaffel 26, where he served from 17 February 1918 through to 20 May 1918;

Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician, aviator, military leader, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which gov ...

also served in ''Jasta'' 26. Beckhardt and Göring were stationed at the same airfields for eight months and knew each other well. On 23 March 1918, Beckhardt submitted his first combat claim, for a victory over a Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5a, but it went unconfirmed. On 11 April, he scored his first victory, over a Royal Aircraft Factory R.E.8. Rather ironically, Vizfeldwebel Beckhardt's personal insignia, which was featured on at least three of his airplanes, was a

Swastika The swastika (卐 or 卍, ) is a symbol used in various Eurasian religions and cultures, as well as a few Indigenous peoples of Africa, African and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, American cultures. In the Western world, it is widely rec ...

; however, the swastika at that time was not yet a Nazi symbol, and Beckhardt's swastika turned in the opposite direction to the Nazi one. When the armistice ended the fighting on 11 November 1918, he refused to surrender his fighter plane. Instead, two days later, he flew his Siemens-Schuckert D.III into Switzerland and was interned until 1919.

By the war's end, Beckhardt was a member of the League of Jewish Soldiers at the Front. Beckhardt was one of two German Jews awarded the

House Order of Hohenzollern The House Order of Hohenzollern ( or ') was a dynastic order of knighthood of the House of Hohenzollern awarded to military commissioned officers and civilians of comparable status. Associated with the various versions of the order were crosses an ...

; the other was Wilhelm Frankl (although Frankl converted to Christianity). The names of Frankl and Beckhardt were removed from the list of recipients during the Nazi era. He was twice personally congratulated by the German Emperor

Wilhelm II Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia from 1888 until Abdication of Wilhelm II, his abdication in 1918, which marked the end of the German Empire as well as th ...

for his successes as a fighter pilot.

Between the wars

In 1926, Beckhardt married Rosa Emma Neumann in Wiesbaden, Germany. He then ran his father-in-law's grocery store until 1934. When the Nazis began their boycott of Jewish businesses on 1 April 1933, he moved from the suburb of Sonnenberg, where he had been doing business, to the center of Wiesbaden. There he had a business that specialized in edible oils and fats. In 1936 he drove two Jewish brothers named Frohwein to the Belgian border so they could flee the Gestapo. The Frohweins later opened a kosher butchery in Golders Green, London. In 1937 Beckhardt was accused of having sexual relations with a non-Jewish "Aryan" woman. As a result of the trial on 14 December 1937, he was convicted and sent to prison for a year and nine months. After his time in prison he was taken in protective custody to a penal company in

Buchenwald concentration camp Buchenwald (; 'beech forest') was a German Nazi concentration camp established on Ettersberg hill near Weimar, Nazi Germany, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within the Altreich (pre-1938 ...

as prisoner no. 8135. Upon his release in March 1940, it was written in his records by the SS that he had scored 17 victories as a fighter pilot during World War I.

World War II and beyond

Apparently,

had interceded on the grounds of sentiment towards his old comrade in arms to facilitate his release. Beckhardt's lawyer, Berthold Guthmann, had served with both Göring and Beckhardt during World War I. (Guthmann, who was Jewish, died in KZ camp Auschwitz on 29 September 1944). Fritz and Rosa Emma Beckhardt escaped to neutral Lisbon, Portugal, thence to England. After a brief internment on the Isle of Man, the Beckhardts moved in with one of the Froweins. In London they reunited with their two children Kurt and Sue Hilde who had been brought to England by the "

Kindertransport The ''Kindertransport'' (German for "children's transport") was an organised rescue effort of children from Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, total ...

"-Organizations (Refugee Children's Movement (RCM)). The RCM had its seat in Bloomsbury house, London. It consisted of many Jewish and Christian organisations. Fritz um 1950er

In 1950, Beckhardt returned to Wiesbaden and recovered his house and shop and a part of his other property through legal action. He and his son Kurt then opened the first self-serve grocery in Wiesbaden. Beckhardt ran the grocery until his death on 13 January 1962. His death was caused by several strokes. He and his wife are buried at the Jewish cemetery of Wiesbaden. His son Kurt lived in a camp in Barham, near Ipswich, in different hostels in Sheffield and in Golders Green, London until he returned with his father to Germany. He is now living in Bonn, Germany. His daughter Suse Hilde became a British subject in January 1954 and lived in London. Beckhardt's son Kurt did not reveal the family's Jewish background to his own son Lorenz to spare him from the kind of persecution they experienced during the Nazi era, raising him as a Catholic instead. Lorenz Beckhardt found out when he was 18 and researched the story of his grandfather, resulting in the publication of the book ''Der Jude mit dem Hakenkreuz. Meine deutsche Familie'' (English: The Jew with the Swastika. My German Family) about Fritz Beckhardt.

Decorations and awards

* Member of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords * General Honour Decoration for Bravery (Grand Duchy of Hesse) *

(1914), 1st and 2nd class, * Bravery Medal (Hesse) (Grand Duchy of Hesse) * Military Merit Order, 3rd class (Bavaria) * War Merit Cross (Baden) * Black

Wound Badge The Wound Badge () was a German military decoration first promulgated by Wilhelm II, German Emperor on 3 March 1918, which was first awarded to soldiers of the Imperial German Army, German Army who were wounded during World War I. Between the worl ...

(1918) * Field Honour Badge (Hamburg) * Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918 * Warrior Medal in Iron * Prussian military pilot badge * Honour Cup for the winner in a dogfight

References

Bibliography

* * , * ''American Jewish Year Book''. American Jewish Committee, Jewish Publication Society of America, 1916. {{DEFAULTSORT:Beckhardt, Fritz 1889 births 1962 deaths People from Alzey-Worms German Jewish military personnel of World War I German World War I flying aces Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom Recipients of the Iron Cross (1914), 1st class People interned in the Isle of Man during World War II Luftstreitkräfte personnel People from Rhenish Hesse Buchenwald concentration camp survivors